State police revoke Peterson’s gun card

Thursday

Feb 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 28, 2008 at 11:33 PM

Illinois State Police revoked Drew Peterson’s right to legally possess a gun just hours after a Will County judge ordered the state to return to him 11 seized firearms, the state’s attorney confirmed Wednesday evening.

Danya Hooker

Illinois State Police revoked Drew Peterson’s right to legally possess a gun just hours after a Will County judge ordered the state to return to him 11 seized firearms, the state’s attorney confirmed Wednesday evening.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow sent a letter Tuesday to State Police Director Larry G. Trent requesting he revoke Peterson’s firearm owner’s identification card. State police sent a letter to Peterson Wednesday informing him of the decision.

News of the revocation came just hours after Peterson and his attorneys won a three-month court battle when judge Richard Schoenstedt ordered the state to return 11 guns, two vehicles and computers seized Nov. 1.

In his ruling, Schoenstedt said Peterson must maintain a valid FOID card in order to keep the guns.

Officials did not specify why Peterson’s FOID card was revoked or on what grounds, but a card may be revoked for a number of reasons, according to state police. Fugitives, suspects under indictment for a felony, convicted felons, drug users and recent mental institution patients are all ineligible to carry a FOID card under state law.

Officials will return the other seized items within a month provided Peterson appears in court March 17 and agrees to a set of conditions, which include an agreement to not dispose of the items and, in the event the case goes to trial, an agreement to not challenge the validity of photographs or other renditions of the property during the trial.

Peterson’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, had argued for months that investigators have had enough time to conduct all necessary forensic testing on the possible evidence and has said investigators were keeping the items solely to frustrate his client.

Chuck Pelkie, spokesman for the Will County state’s attorney, called the ruling reasonable and said all forensics testing had been completed or will be completed “in the near future.”

Peterson is a suspect in his fourth wife Stacy’s Oct. 28 disappearance, which investigators are calling a possible homicide.

A grand jury has been meeting for months to investigate Stacy Peterson’s disappearance and the March 2004 drowning death of Drew Peterson’s third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Savio’s body was found in an empty bathtub in her Bolingbrook home. A six-person coroner’s jury ruled the cause of death as an accidental drowning but the case was reopened shortly after Stacy Peterson went missing.

Savio’s body was exhumed in November and an independent forensic pathologist for the state ruled her death a homicide last Thursday.

Drew Peterson has denied any wrongdoing in either case and has not been charged with a crime.

Attorneys for Peterson and Savio’s family will also be in court March 17 for a hearing on the family’s petition to have Savio’s estate reopened.

The petition is the first step in the process of filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Peterson on behalf of Savio’s estate.